ireland

we are now in dublin. went to st. patricks cathedral this morning and are heading out to a pub to see some irish dancing tonight.

the trip has been amazing and it has been a wonderful suprize sharing it with such good new friends.

to top it all off, only on a trip like this do you find time to watch the first to parts of Lord of the Rings after spending two days hiking in the welsh mountians scrambling up hills like the fellowship.

Well, I did it!

Yesterday I mailed off my deposit for a European Study Tour with Moody Bible Institute. It is a 17 day trip in May/June of 07. The official title of the trip is “Roman, Celtic, and Medieval Great Britain” and we are going to visit all the places I have always really wanted to go to.

Some of the itinerary includes:
London
Oxford
Cambridge
Bath
Dublin
Stratford

Some of the specific places I will get to go to are:
Westminster Abbey
Tower of London
Canterbury Cathedral
Eagle and Child Pub (hangout for the Inklings, a writing group that both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein were part of)
St. Patrick’s Cathedral

So it cannot be overstated how STOKED I am about this opportunity.

I will not be earning any credit for this trip since I would rather just go for the experience and not stress about school work. Although, it will still be extremely helpful because most of my Masters program deals with events in Europe and I will be taking a seminar class that specifically explores Christianity in Britain. I cannot imagine being able to discuss Britain, while not having to imagine what places are like. I will have concrete experience to rely on.

I have yet to figure out how I am going to pay for the remainder of the cost of the trip.
And It is not 100% for sure that I am going (if the trip filled up in the 3 days that it took me to mail in my deposit, then I wont be going. But I have been told that the chances of the trip filling up completely are highly unlikely. Nor do I think a handful of undergrad college students are going to be “on the ball” enough to have beat me to a spot on the trip)
So hopefully, coming in June, there will be some wicked cool posts from across the pond.

So yeah. Its pretty Rad. Something on my list of life goals that I will finally be able to accomplish.

Go Mariners!

Yes, I realize in a week or so, the M’s will not be playing anymore, but this evening, I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to the mariners game. Right now, it is 2 outs bottom of the 8th and the M’s are beating the Chicago White Soxs 10-6.

I love studying while listening to a baseball game on the radio. If I did not have too much homework, had more money, and if the weather was better, I may have even tried to go to one of the games tomorrow or Sunday afternoon. Some of my friends are going down town tomorrow, but I have a paper to be writing.

Thanks to those who have been praying for my head. It was considerably better today.

Only 8 more days until the Hawks play here. I wanted to go, but its too expensive.
AND only 12 Days until the NHL season begins. GO OILERS!

Finally, Happy Hobbit Day! Yes today is Bilbo & Frodo Baggins’ birthdays.

There is Still Hope

As I was just shutting down a word program, my computer played the sound clip it always plays.

From Lord of the Rings, I believe the speaker is Arwen. She says “There is still hope!”

This evening it reminded me that in reference to the previous post, all is not lost.

More pictures

Here are a couple of other things I made that I have hanging in my bathroom. They are from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

The first is a calligraphy piece of some of the most famous lines from the book. His words, my attempt at “artistic” representation of them.

The second is map of Middle Earth. This map is a copy of the official map that was created for the movie. I drew it, but I simply re-drew the picture to the best of my ability. Neither the layout of the land, nor the artistry of it are my ideas. Those belong to Mr. Tolkien & Daniel Reeve (the official The Lord of the Rings movie calligrapher & cartographer)

Finally, Go Seahawks!!!!!

Middle Earth

Thought this quiz was fun.

Find out what Middle Earth race you are by clicking here.

My Kind of Day 5 in My Kind of Town

We got up at 5:30 am. SUPER early! Off to Wheaton we went. To get there we had to walk down to the Metra train station to catch the train. Once we got to the train station and bought our tickets, we had an hour to kill. What did we do? You guessed it headed to a fourth Starbucks (I did not mention the Starbucks we stopped at on the magnificent mile, day 2) for breakfast.

The train was a nice ride. We each got our own bench and window. The further we went from the City, the more beautiful it became. The large oak trees with all of the leaves turning orange and red was amazing.

We got off the train in Wheaton and walked along the Illinois State Prairie Path to the campus. After checking in, my roommate headed for the library, where I believe she hung out most of the morning.

I attended a class, spoke with an admissions councilor (since I have already applied & been accepted most of the conversation was concerning housing and job opportunities) then off to lunch with a professor. I had lunch with Dr. Timothy Larsen, the Coordinator of the General History of Christianity program. Very interesting lunch.

After that, I met up with my roomie and we went to the Billy Graham Museum. All I can say is “WOW!” Defiantly check it out next time you are in Chicago.

Our next stop was the Wade center, where Wheaton College has a small museum honoring 7 British Authors, 2 of which are J.R.R. Tolkien & C.S. Lewis. We saw some of Tolkien’s letters, Both authors’ desks. AND CS Lewis’ Wardrobe. Lewis had many wardrobes through out his life, but it is rumored that this particular wardrobe, one long owned by Lewis’ family, was the inspiration of his famous story. The College follows legal requirements with a little notice on the inside of the wardrobe “Wheaton College is not responsible for any individuals who may disappear into the wardrobe.”

After this, we walked around a few blocks of Wheaton and headed home. Another 40 minute train ride and we were back in the city. As this was Halloween, we figured it would be best to get to our hotel before it got dark. We ordered Pizza Hut through the room service for dinner, and ended our day.

This day was important for several reasons. Not only was it wonderful to check out the college, it also provided encouragement and weight behind the “Talking My Roommate into Moving to Chicago” Project. Mission almost accomplished 🙂

Tolstoy & Dostoevsky

Well, I just bought a couple of more books on e-bay. My next Tolstoy attempt will be War & Peace. First though, I will read Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov. While I wait for them to come in the mail, I have now returned to my Favorite book.

It Begins like this:

“When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton” (Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien)

It just grabs you and says “READ ME!”

Literature

So I have been on a huge reading kick lately. I have always loved to read, but for some reason I have not read very many of the “classics” or Current Best Sellers.

This spring I started Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. I have enjoyed the plot, but some times get so bored by the Characters thought (which go on, and on, and on) that I quit reading the book for about 4 months. I just picked it up again and realized that because I am almost 1/2 done with an 800 page book, I really need to finish it.

As most others in recent years, I have now read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I wanted to read them before I watched the movies. I would have to say that Tolkien is now my favorite author. His contemporary, CS Lewis, has been on of my favorite for years. I read the chronicles of Narnia several years ago. (and am eargarly awaiting this December!)

I also attempted Sense & Sensibility and Emma by Jane Austin. Saw the movies, but have yet to finish either book.

Harry Potter, here’s a fun one. I have heard the hype for years, but only when book 6 came out did I finally read any. I bought the first five in a box set. LOVED THEM, and 18 days after starting book one, I had finished all 6. (yes, I need a life to fill up all this time, that was over 3300 pages of reading)

And finally, Another highly anticipated book came out yesterday. Eldest the second book in the Inheritance trilogy. the first book Eragon was written when the author was only 15 yrs old. I only read book one in may. I recommend this one. yes, it is kind of a kids book, but still enjoyable.

Looking back at this list of books, it only confirms that I love the fantasy genre. I think it is because I love the epic tale of good vs. evil.

Plus, I think that each of our lives, in reality, are part of an Epic tale. I often view life very “in the now” but reading such fairy tales reminds me that there are elements of the story that reflect how things really are. And I think it is helpful to the “good” and hurtful to the “evil” if I keep this in mind and live accordingly.